Select a Payment Processor to Collect Funds

memberplanet is a simple, secure platform for your group to transact payments. Any group can collect payments to support a cause or membership needs. You don’t need to have a PayPal account, but if you do, and if you prefer to use your PayPal account to collect funds, you can link it to your memberplanet account.

How to Use memberplanet to Collect Funds

Using memberplanet to collect funds requires you to add and verify your bank account. A percentage of what you collect will be deducted as a transaction fee.

Any group can collect funds through a Donation Site or any other payment form. In order to receive funds, you must select a bank account to deposit funds into when creating any type of payment form. Learn more: How to Add and Verify Your Bank Account

Note: When you add and verify your bank account, this will automatically be set as the default account for all membership funds collected.

If you’re collecting payments using memberplanet, a percentage of what you collect will be deducted as a transaction fee. On all reports generated on the platform, you will be able to see the exact amount of fees and the amount that is transferable to your group. We strive to offer competitive pricing compared to other membership management services, as well as be transparent about how our fees are calculated. Below is an explanation of our fees, including examples for a Pro subscription (our most popular pricing plan).

Note: The only instance in which you will need to calculate the transaction fee is for a membership dues payment – only if the transaction fee is being passed on to the member making a payment. The platform automatically calculates the transaction fee for all other payments (through payment forms, donation campaigns, and the events module) made by using memberplanet.

memberplanet charges two types of fees per transaction:

Platform fee: the variable site fee based on subscription

Processing fee for electronic payments: 3% + $0.30 per payment

The total transaction fee = platform fee + processing fee.

Example: If you are on the Pro subscription, the platform fee is 2%. When added to the processing fee, it equals 5% + $0.30, which is the total transaction fee.

The total transaction fee can be applied two different ways:

The group on memberplanet absorbs the fee

Example: A donor gives $100. The transaction fee of $5.30 (5% + $0.30) is deducted from $100. $94.70 is transferred to the group.

The fee is passed on to the person making a payment

Example: A donor wants to give $100. The total amount a donor/member is charged is expressed by this formula:

( X + $.30 ) ( 1 - Y )

X is the target value to be transferred to the group ($100), and Y is the group’s platform fee (2% on Pro subscription) + processing fee percentage (3%) without the $0.30 per payment:

( $100.30 ) = $105.58 total to be charged ( .95 )

Important note: Fees are based off the TOTAL amount processed by our merchant processor and NOT the target amount.

To ensure that $100 is the amount transferred to the group, the group would need to charge an additional $5.58 for a grand total of $105.58. From this total amount, you can see how the fees are calculated:

Passing the transaction fee to the member encourages one to pay by cash or check. We recommend that your organization absorb the fee, because it’s proven that what you pay in fees is offset by the increased payments and donations received by offering multiple and convenient payment options. Learn more on the memberplanet blog: 5 Ways Accepting Electronic Payments Will Benefit Your Group.

How to Use Your PayPal Account to Collect Funds

If your organization is international, it's convenient to use PayPal as your processor in order to collect and receive money in your home currency.

PayPal allows groups to utilize features such as our recurring payments and some reporting, but because your finances are being processed by a third party, conveniences like viewing transfer dates and processing refunds can only be done with PayPal.

Click Processors in the left navigation bar

Select the gear icon on the PayPal row

Click the Account Details option in the dropdown menu

Follow the instructions on the PayPal Account page to create or link your existing PayPal account and sign the billing agreement

Once you've linked your PayPal account and signed the billing agreement, all payments that your group collects will be processed by PayPal and transferred to your PayPal account.

PayPal FAQs

Can I start collecting payments immediately?

USA groups

If your group is located in the United States of America and is collecting payments in USD ($), you can start collecting payments immediately using memberplanet as your payment processor. If you prefer to use PayPal as your payment processor, you can link your PayPal account to your group.

International groups

If your group is located outside of the US and/or would like to collect payments in a currency other than USD ($), you must link your PayPal account to your group before you can begin collecting payments.

What payment methods can my member use?

If your group's PayPal Business Account is not Verified, your members will need to create or log in to their own PayPal accounts when making payments to your group. Once your PayPal Account is Verified, your members may pay directly with a credit card or debit card via Guest Checkout.

Cost of memberplanet vs PayPal

The total transaction cost of using PayPal as your processor on memberplanet is the same as using memberplanet as your processor. Both PayPal and memberplanet assess a fee per transaction for credit card processing. The additional site fee of 1-4% (depending on your subscription level) is added in either case. This fee is for the memberplanet services which are used in both cases.

memberplanet

Credit Card processing: 3% + $0.30

memberplanet Site Fee: 1-4%

Total: 4-7% + $0.30

PayPal

Credit Card processing: Credit card processing fee set by PayPal

memberplanet Site Fee: 1-4%

Total: PayPal processing fee + 1-4% + $0.30

Set up recurring payments with PayPal

If your group is using PayPal as your payment processor, you'll need to set up reference transactions on your PayPal account before your members can start scheduling recurring payments.